| This work introduces a new pump, called the spiral pump, which targets the surface micromachining technology. We demonstrate the possibility of realizing the spiral pump geometry in standard surface micromachining, lay out the theoretical foundation for its operation, and conduct an objective assessment for its practicality.; The spiral pump is a shear-driven viscous pump, which works by rotating a disk with a spiral groove at a close proximity over a stationary plate. Fluid contained in the spiral groove between the stationary plate and the rotating disk, is subject to a net tangential viscous stress, which allows it to be transported against an imposed pressure difference. A number of spiral pumps were fabricated in 5 levels of polysilicon using Sandia's Ultraplanar Multilevel Surface Micromachining Technology, SUMMiT, and the fabricated micropump were tested in dry-run mode using electrostatic probing and optical microscopy.; To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the spiral micropump operation, an analytical model was developed for the flow field in the spiral channel of the pump using an approximation which replaces the spiral channel with an equivalent straight channel with appropriate dimensions and boundary conditions. An analytical solution for this model at the lubrication limit relates the flow rate, torque and power consumption of the spiral pump to the pressure difference and rotation rate. The model was validated using macroscale experiments conducted on a scaled up spiral pump model, which involved a quantitative characterization of the spiral pump performance. Those experiments validate the developed theory and help assess the practicality of the spiral pump concept.; In addition to the spiral pump, two positive-displacement ring-gear pumps were designed and fabricated in this work. The feasibility of surface micromachined ring-gear pumps is briefly investigated in this work, and compare to that of the spiral micropump. |
